DETAILS OF the conditions on a farm in Craughwell, Co Galway, which led to the farmer being jailed for six months and fined €35,000 at Athenry District Court, have been revealed by the Department of Agriculture.
PJ Shiel (42), Craughwell, pleaded guilty to 35 counts of animal cruelty and having unburied carcases on his lands between March and August last year.
Judge Joseph Mangan, who heard the evidence in the case and viewed pictures of the conditions there, said the only reason he was not imposing a longer sentence was because of the guilty plea.
He had been told by Michael Haugh, veterinary inspector from Galway District Veterinary Office, and Garda Jim Naughton, Gort, of the conditions on the farm when inspectors visited.
They observed a pen of 10 cattle of various ages, most of which were in poor health. One had died recently and the others were found walking on the carcase.
The animals were forced to lie in about a foot of semi-liquid manure and there was no evidence of freely available water.
The yard, strewn with broken machinery, was full of slurry.
In a shed containing 13 cattle of various sizes and bodily condition, there was no evidence of fodder, drinking water or bedding. The animals were forced to lie in several inches of liquid manure.
In fields at the back of the sheds unburied carcases of ewes, two of which were skeletal, were found, and there were more bovine carcases in various stages of decomposition scattered about the fields.
The court sitting on April 12th was also told the animals were unsegregated by age or sex, were horned and the males uncastrated.
In effect, it was “survival of the fittest” on this farm, the department said in a statement.
The court was told Shiel farmed more than 100 acres between Galway and Westmeath.
He had a suckler herd of about 100 animals plus a flock of ewes and lambs, with the result he was in receipt of substantial payments under the EU single farm payment scheme.